THE Temuka Leader. SATURDAY, MAY 21, 1892. OUTRAGEOUS EXTRAVAGANCE.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2359, 21 May 1892, Page 2

THE Temuka Leader. SATURDAY, MAY 21, 1892. OUTRAGEOUS EXTRAVAGANCE.

JLHE J.iniaru xiaroor lioara —or ai least the majority thereof—capped all previous performances last Wednesday by their extravagance in ordering that tenders should be cabled to them from England. To cable one tender for the Mana cost £7, and say there are twenty similar tenders to cable it means £l4O ! In this case the cost will be enormous, because alternate tenders are called for, which means that every man who tenders must send in two tenders; one for hopper dredge and tug combined, and another tor a dredge only. This will double the cost of the cable, and it will doubtless amount to a very large sum. It can easily be seen how quickly cabling runs away with money. Every word, including address and signature, will cost 10s 2d, so that it would not take a great deal to mount up a good sum in that way. This was done to show the ratepayers how very little the members of the majority of the board care about them. It was a piece of bravado intended to express contempt for the public meetings and the petitions got up to induce them to delay. Mr Evans told them plainly that if it had been their own money they were spending they would not be so recklessly extravagant with it. There can be no doubt about it, and we are perfectly satisfied it was done out of pure spite, because the ratepayers presumed to give expression to their feelings on the matter. The whole thing was cut and dry, the resolution was written, and everything was settled before the board assembled at all. To do this it was necessary that they should have held a private conclave beforehand, and we have no doubt they did. It is no use to characterise this conduct in the language which rises uppermost in our mind, but let us look upon it in a practical way. It is admitted by all that the shingle cannot reach the kant for four years ; it is also admitted that it will take eighteen months to build the vessel. Most people say she can be built in twelve months, but in the extravagant language of the alarmists who want to frighten people with the shingle, they say it will take eighteen mouths to construct her. Putting it down at eighteen months, therefore, is there not ample time to allow tenders to be sent out by the mail in the ordinary way ! It means only 40 days longer, so that even if that course were adopted the vessel could be landed here nearly two years and a-dialf before the shingle can become dangerous. This is taking the calculations of the iilarmists themselves—taking the calculations of those who have discovered that the shingle is stealing out secretly mderneath the waves, where no one san see it—and yet in the face of this act, they have decided on going to the 3normous expense of cabling to save j;0 (Jays, Tliers is another view of the natter. It js impossible that all '"tails and. all necessary information

. ‘•'’■‘led. Tip* mere tender can be ' , « i I mi * ,,, d no further only can be cabled, v .. information can be obtained. It , vas said at the board that tenderers would make their own drawings of the vessel, and the special conditions of the contract says that the tenderer must supply “ working plans in duplicate ” to the board. How can that be done by cable? It is impossible. The board, therefore, will accept a tender in the dark, and must leave all to Mr Darling, whom they have appointed as their agent in London. This is not business-like ; it is what, as Mr Evans said, no man would do in his own private business ; it is recklessly scandalous, and ought to arouse the ratepayers to protest more vigorously than hitherto against the autocratic conduct of the board. What the board ought to do is to get all tenders, drawings, plans, and specifications, forwarded to them by mail, and have everything plain and straight before them. It is very possible, if they adopted this course, they would pick up many wrinkles from the tenderers, which would put them in a better position to form an opinion as to the vessel that would suit theni. They have hitherto muddled the business of the hoard awfully, terribly, fearfully. They have behaved more like children do with

tlieir toys than men dealing with public matters. No sooner has a vessel been purchased than they have got tired of it and wanted something else, and now they are going to work in the dark, and not only that, but in the most expensive way they could think of. How can any one have any confidence in such people? They know themselves that the ratepayers have lost confidence in them, and this last act of theirs is merely one of defiance meant to show their contempt for the people. Despair of ever being forgiven, it is said, causes the GovernorGeneral of the warm place below to do all the mischief he can on earth, It appears to us the majority of the board have gone to work on the same principle. They know their doom is sealed; they know there is no hope of their re-election, and they have determined on having their revenge while it is in their power to wreak it on the unfortunate ratepayers of the district.

THE POLICE STATION. Tni: recent police changes in Temuka revealed to those who attended Constable Morton’s furniture sale the fact that the house provided for the constable in charge of the district is a miserable hovel. It consists of four small rooms, which were in sucli a dilapidated condition that Constable Bourke had to pay for repairing them out of his own pocket before he could enter the house. The doors of the two rooms in which there are fireplaces open out to the front and rear of the house, and there is a continual current of air passing through them, so that it is impossible to keep them warm in cold weather It may be said that this is healthy, but it must be a miserable place to bring up a family in, especially if any of them happen to get sick. These two rooms are the kitchen and sittingroom, and the other

two rooms are so small that there is difficulty in fitting double bedsteads into them. The two back rooms are lean-tos, and within about ten or twelve feet of the back door is the prisoners’ cell, where those arrested are confined. We are informed that on more than one occasion constables have had to remove their families out of the house, so as to get them out of the way of hearing the foul-mouthed utterances of the prisoners. This is no exaggeration, it is an absolute fact, and it is a disgraceful thing that the cell is allowed to remain so near the dwelling-house, more especially as a very birge paddock is attached to the station. It is a disgrace, too, that there is only one cell in a large and important district like Temuka. The other day, when the police had three men and a woman locked up, they had to put the woman in a little lean-to, where straw and other things are kept, but if the men happened to disagree in the one cell they could not separate them. This is shameful, and ought to be seen to at once. We know that we live in days of retrenchment, but, at the same time, the country is not in such a bad state that it cannot afford decent accommodation for its police. For£dO, or less, another cell could be built and the dwelling-house so improved that it could be rendered habitable, and we firmly believe that if the matter were properly represented to the Hon. Mr Seddon he would have it attended to. At any rate, the condition of the whole station is shameful ; in the police office daylight can be seen through the flooring, and the draught which comes through it would literally turn a mill. We commend the matter to the Hon. Mr Seddon, and we trust that he will effect the improvements which are urgently required as spe'edily as possible.